Any Simpsons’ fan will know of “Focusin”, the mind-sharpening drug that Bart Simpson took during a pharma trial. He immediately blew past Lisa and became the smartest kid, probably ever. Once we stopped, things got back to normal and he went back to being lovable, slightly-dumb Bart. Well, get me some Focusin, because I just watched Primer and Predestination back to back and I need a nap. Don’t get me wrong, these are really, really good films. They’re super smart, entertaining (in their own way), and well-made. Primer, for God’s sake, was purportedly made for $7,000! If that’s true, I’m doubly-blown. Predestination had a bigger budget and bigger stars, but it is no less twisty and time-altering.

Kathy, Burk and I try to explain these movies. Burk sent an email that made perfect sense. He’s seen it a few more times than I (not that repeated viewings would help me - they wouldn’t), but his expanation made sense. Just trying to explain that on the podcast, well, let’s just say, I didn’t bring my Focusin. Burk tried is darnedest - while Kathy and I looked like my mom does when I try to explain how to switch from broadcast TV to streaming. Again, we tried - but it is a bit comical. I felt that my next three movies would have to be Winnie the Pooh, The Nut Job 2 and Christmas with the Cranks. I think I can follow those.

Don’t be scared off. You are probably much smarter than I. So check them out. Mind-bending - oh, and Amazon has Focusin for 30% off through the end of the month. -Mark

Darren Aronofsky doesn’t make Vanilla movies. We all know that. He’s a superb filmmaker, and a challenging one. Some people like the challenge; some people don’t. If you’re into seeing an Amy Schumer flick, by all means, enjoy. But if you’re looking for something completely different, you should seek out his films. All of them are an interesting watch. I really liked Noah a lot - I think I’m in the deep minority on that one. Black Swan, Pi, that drug movie — all of them are pretty darn interesting. But nothing will really prepare you for Mother!

I’m not going to spoil the viewing experience for you. Once you see it, listen to the podcast. We do a very deep dive on this one, because the film deserves it. I know you’ve heard the vitriol spewed at this film (and Aronofsky even “apologized” for it, which was a mistake imho). It’s there for one very specific scene in the movie. It’s a scene you will see, and you will feel something. No doubt. But, hopefully, by the time that scene plays, you’ll have figured out the playing field that this film hangs in. You’re watching something very different - and if you’re a fan of cinema, you’ll appreciate it. You might not like some of what you see; but a challenging, top-flight filmmaker has carte blanche to freak you out. I want that. I demand it. He delivered it. Again, you might not like it - but take the medicine, discuss afterwards and think about it some more.

The film is a modern classic. One film that I will come back to every now and then and watch. Not for everybody. But for me, it was an experience. A masterpiece.

There are some really brilliant young filmmakers out there making cool, mind-bending movies. Whether it be Primer, which is a true headspinner, or The Love Witch - just so smart in ways that you won’t see coming - there are very smart people making very smart indie films. They skirt around any budget constraints and make compelling stories come to life.

In 2012, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, made Resolution. Five years later, they made The Endless. The movies have a connection - and if you’re planning on watching these — AND YOU SHOULD!! — please watch Resolution first. You’ll be glad you did.

In no way am I going to tell you anything about these movies - no plot synopsis, no spoilers - or even spoiler light. Just please trust me - if you like challenging and entertaining movies done on a low budget, you really can’t do better than these two films. They are definitely connected, but they are two very different films going for two very different feels. Both are, at first, somewhat head-scratching. But if you, like the Cinemondo-ites, salivate over discussing and dissecting movies, these two will give you hours of post-streaming debate. If a filmmaker can give me that, I genuflect in their direction. Benson and Moorhead, who star in The Endless, are the brains behind these films. I eagerly await what comes next from their super creative minds.

I really want to tell you about these films. Ok, so I will. What happens is that….. Eh, I can’t. Just watch and let us know what you think! -this 104 IQ-brain needs some time to bounce back from these warped, but brilliant films. -Mark

CInemondo Podcast Mystery Date episodes are loads of fun for me because I get to push a film I personally like to Kathy and Burk. And they get to do the same to us. We all know the unbridled joy of recommending a movie to friends and then sitting down in front of the TV and hitting the Play button. The anticipation is palpable. Then the movie starts - and the part you thought was SO funny suddenly isn’t as funny as it was earlier. The scene that got your heart racing now is causing your friend’s to yawn. Oh crap. That’s why I don’t do that anymore. Oh, I’ll recommend a movie to anyone, but I won’t then go sit down and watch that movie with them. Way too stressful.

But talking about a mystery date movie on the podcast is loads of fun because I get to expose Kathy and Burk, two of the most knowledgable film people I know, to a movie they might not know about. My latest offering is 1977’s The White Buffalo, starring Charles Bronson, Clint Walker, Jack Warden, Will Sampson, Kim Novak, Slim Pickens, Stuart Whitman and John Carradine. Some cast, right? Anyway, it also stars one of the goofiest, yet oddly compelling, “monsters” ever. Of course, it’s not a monster. It’s just an albino buffalo. But, trust me, it’s something you have to see. This is a true cult film, because unlike Forbidden Zone and Donnie Darko, two films that were made as cult films, everyone involved with this production was not setting out to make a cult movie. It just turned out that way. J. Lee Thompson, who directed the original Cape Fear and The Guns of Navarone, then went on to direct tons of B-movie stuff, was shooting a western. Dino de Laurentiis, the producer, was trying to capitalize on Jaws by producing “monsters on a rampage” films (King Kong, Orca). This was his third, and it was an abysmal failure at the box office. It was laughed out of the theaters. But I suggest you give it a view. The dialogue is crazy "frontier slang pulp” stuff - really fun to listen to. The acting is way better than it should be — and the climactic confrontation with the white buffalo is dreamlike — very David Lynch. And, of course, it wasn’t meant to be like that - I mean, you can see the track the mechanical buffalo is on in the snow. Plain as day. Come on, that’s awesome. What mystery date wouldn’t be happy with that?? Oh, and I still have to see Kathy and Burk’s picks - I will, but I’ll watch them alone - just in case I yawn during one of the “exciting” parts. -Mark

Some movie producer way back when said that movie audiences will really only remember the ending. If the ending is great, they love the movie. If the ending sucks, so does the film. I don’t buy into that at all - we’re a bit smarter than that, aren’t we? But what I do believe is that a great ending - what I consider a great ending anyway, can really save an otherwise not-great movie. We can have that post-movie chat in the theater parking lot: “That movie blew, but the ending was pretty cool!” In reality, I’m the guy going “Oh, he was the killer? I didn’t catch that.”

Regardless, endings - and I’m not talking the climax of the film, but the last shot/scene of a movie can really get me all giddy. Two of my personal favorites are pretty classic ones. Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing, is a great film-noir from 1956. It’s a heist film told in a novel way. But the ending, where Sterling Hayden’s character (and his moll) watch their million dollars in cash go swirling into the air in front of a prop planes engines, is the “most”. Since they can’t get on their flight, they try to catch a cab outside the airport. Who knows - this might have been filmed at the Hollywood Burbank Airport (my personal favorite airport - you still walk on the tarmac to get on the plane!). Anyway, as they are hailing a taxi, we have a shot of the glass front doors of the airport terminal. Behind the glass, we see two G-Men being told what had happened on the tarmac. These two guys - burly, older, wearing fedoras, look towards our anti-heroes. They slowly walk towards the doors (and the camera), one at either door. At the same time, they draw their guns, point and open the doors. “THE END” comes up between them. Fade to black. Holy Shit, is that great. Simply shot, but so effective. The jig is so up for them.

The second is so classic - The Godfather. All I’ll say is that one shot of one of my Michael Corleone’s henchmen closing the door on Diane Keaton’s character as Pacino looks at her, tells you all you need to know about the future of their marraige, and more importantly, the future of her life. It ain’t going to be great. An American classic has THE classic ending. Goddamn, that movie is so freaking good.

I know there are other, more obscure film endings to pick - but I went down Fifth Avenue with these. Burk and Kathy came up with some great ones too - but mine are the best….. ;-)

John Carpenter’s Halloween started it all in 1978. Seeing it opening night in the theater, I knew right then and there, that I was veering away from The Apple Dumpling Gang films to something a tad darker. Theater actors like to take the temperature of the room during a performance or a showing. In this case, the mercury would have exploded out of the thermometer like they used to do in old Warner Brothers cartoons. Theater 4 at the East Hartford Showcase Cinema was blazing. It was the most fun I have ever had at the movies—-ever!

Soon after that, our family got HBO. Suddenly, I could stay up late and watch every good, bad or indifferent slasher pic that came in Halloween’s wake. I remember He Knows You’re Alone with a high Tom Hanks was an early one. Prom Night, Terror Train (both Jamie Lee Curtis vehicles) and countless others came after. I watched most of them. For some reason, I couldn’t watch Maniac. Something about that film poster just freaked me out too much. Still haven’t seen it! Call me a chicken - guilty as charged!

Our guest on this week’s Cinemondo Podcast is Devon Whitehead, a true artist and ultimate horror fan. He talks about his interest in horror - specifically 80’s horror stuff. It’s a great listen - although I didn’t tell anyone I was afraid of Joe Spinell in Maniac. Let’s keep that between us. Signing off - Mark

Growing up in the 1970s, Burt Reynolds was pretty much the biggest thing going. He was rugged; the ultimate man's man. He was a college football player - then he had his own QM (Quinn Martin) TV series, Dan August, that ran for one season. He'd be running after cars, jumping over people; taking down the bad guys. All to cool Dave Grusin music. But the show was gone and Burt went into the movies. One of his earlier films was certainly one of his best---maybe his very best: Deliverance. A huge hit in 1972, Burt played the super cool, ultra-macho, wilderness-man who thought he knew everything about navigating the white waters of this North Georgia mountain river. Well, he was wrong. It's an interesting portrayal, because of Burt's approach to the film, but also how his character reacts to the disaster that befalls him and his friends. The movie is a classic and holds up very well. It still has the power to shock and awe. His performance is a highlight.

He then went on to star in many action films that played off his super-likable onscreen persona. Smokey and the Bandit was a monster hit, and he made a lot of Hal Needham flicks that cashed in on that one. The subsequent ones weren't great - The Cannonball Run was a smash, but it's barely a movie. It's just him and his buddies (Jim Nabors, Dom Deluise, etc) just hamming it up for the camera. They were goofy movies, and didn't do him justice. The End was a film he directed that was many cuts above most of his other work from the late 70s. It's a forgotten work, but quite well done. In the early 80s, he did a Bill Forsyth (Local Hero) called Breaking In - and that film started showing his more mature side. From there, he backed away from movies, but he triumphantly returned as the porn movie producer in JTW's Boogie Nights. He's great in it - maybe the best performance of anyone in that big, sprawling film.

I recently saw his last film, The Last Movie Star - it's on Amazon Prime. It's a fitting end - a small movie about a Burt Reynolds like movie star, who has been forgotten, but it coaxed into going to a Nashville Film Festival. But it is not THE Nashville Film Festival. It's a festival held at a dive bar. He meets his fans. There is copious amounts of melancholy, but also some self-deprecating humor. And that's what made me like him as a person - he didn't take himself too seriously. There are many YouTube clips of him on the Carson show getting ribbed by Don Rickles and other comics. He just eats it up, and laughs with that odd, high-pitched squeal of his. He knew who he was - a movie star. But he was also a quality actor. An athlete who worked hard to become better at his craft, and that work paid off. Search out his films. Laugh at Smokey and the Bandit - but please see his more serious efforts. Deliverance, The End, Breaking In, Boogie Nights and others. That's where you see the true Burt Reynolds show off his stuff. RIP Mr. Reynolds - you were a big part of my childhood and that won't be forgotten. - Mark

I don't have a lot of rules in life - but these two are ironclad. I love driving through tunnels - it's fun and relatively safe. I have thought, while in bumper to bumper traffic halfway through the Holland Tunnel, that this is how it will end for me. A cascade of grey, chunky-style water falling onto my noggin while listening to the best of Seals and Crofts. But aside from that, driving through a tunnel is a delight. Walking through a tunnel? - Not my table. There are many walking tunnels spread out through LA - I'd rather cross the 5, even at night. Okay, that's not true but those dark tunnels freak me out. And Mike Flanagan's first feature, Absentia, preys on that fear. It's a great ultra-low budget feature that has two fully developed female lead characters who are fighting their own demons. It takes the mundane, and gives it a dash of creep. I've seen this movie twice and I can tell why it put Flanagan on the map.

Flanagan has graduated to bigger films: Hush, Oculus, Before I Wake, among others. Gerald's Game, based on a Stephen King book, is a great character study with Carla Gugino simply great as the lead. Her husband, played by the always good Bruce Greenwood, wants to spice up their love life by handcuffing her to the bedposts. Then things go south quickly. You would think it would be hard to get 100 minutes out of that premise, but King did it. And so does Flanagan. A match made in heaven, these two. I hope it happens again. I have a few Flanagan films to check out - I will do so. He's good - you should too. Okay, thanks for reading. Now, if I can only find that stupid key. - Mark

I saw They Live the day it opened at a suburban Atlanta theater. I was the only one in the theater. I thought - oh oh, Carpenter has lost his audience. He didn't lose me, but I was shocked I was the only person there. Anyway, I loved They Live. This wild concept of wearing RayBans and seeing subliminal messages underneath current media. An idea that resonates to this day. Plus, Roddy Piper was actually likable and good in the lead role. But no one would see it. Luckily, the film found an audience and has become a cult classic. Cinemondo will do a cult episode or two in the future. I have definite ideas what and what does not make a cult film. They Live, I guess, qualifies because it has a message that really sticks with ya. Plus it has a fight scene between Roddy and Keith David that goes on longer than the average Looney Tunes episode. Plus it's John Carpenter - it can not be ignored.

Happy Death Day takes that Groundhog Day, Edge of Tomorrow concept and makes it fun - even though the main character ends up dying in violent ways over and over again. The film works because it doesn't take itself too seriously and Jessica Rothe, who plays "Tree", the snotty sorority girl who becomes a nicer person as she experiences each death, is completely great in the lead role. You buy her the whole way. The movie, imho, could have been a bit gorier and nastier, but then realized it was a PG-13 flick, so it couldn't have gone farther. If they went for an "R" and amped up the gore, I think it would have been even more effective, but that's the business choice they made. Anyway, it's a fun flick either way and we here at Cinemondo believe in FUN! More fun comes your way if you listen to our podcasts. We are fun personified - that goes double for Darwin!! be good y'all - Mark

Kathy has been a shameless fan of horror movies from a very early age. Maybe a bit too early for most kids, she was introduced to Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing in various Hammer films, along with the Italian Westerns and late night TV scares she grew up loving. She claims Barnabas Collins as one of her first crushes. These films and TV shows didn’t give her nightmares or scar her for life; they introduced her to a world of movies that she’s never grown out of. These films that would have sent most youngsters fleeing in tears made Kathy a lifelong fan. She always preferred the vampires to the princesses and has described even the most terrifying films as her “comfort food.” Her appetite for genre films is voracious and she tends to root for the monsters and baddies. Always willing to discuss what makes the good ones good and the bad ones bad or the bad ones good, she co-published a beloved movie magazine back in the punk rock days called Cinemondo, and now the name lives on in her podcast. Favorite Genre: Slasher

Mark grew up near a drive-in; so the first twenty or so movies in his life were on a huge screen, sitting in a Pontiac Catalina and listening through weird metal speakers that hung over the car window, thus causing scratches and irking his dad. When he saw Star Wars in a legitimate theater, his movie-going life changed. Since then, Mark watches as many movies as he can. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of film and television, and an appreciation for the finer examples of pop culture that makes him a valuable resource as the ultimate “recommender.” He is the king of alerting you to films that deserve a look despite not getting the press or the distribution they deserve. We suspect he’s got a secret super power that makes him like a radar for “the good stuff." Mark has been friends with Kathy and Burk for decades and the three of them have always shared their love of movies with each other, and now via the futuristic wonder of podcasting. Favorite Genre: Psychological

Burk has been a sci-fi and comic book nerd since the moment he saw the cover of a Spider-Man comic while still basically a baby. Something about the Steve Ditko artwork depicting a ray-beam firing, green robot that fired up his imagination and opened up doorways into weird, alien worlds. And a late-night viewing of JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS and FIRST MEN IN THE MOON, made him determined to understand how something called “special effects” could create such impossible creatures. And later, after watching films like 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY and THE EXORCIST over and over, he finally figured out that ideas and stories were what made certain movies so timeless and meaningful. And that the magic is often in the details. He and Kathy co-published Cinemondo magazine back in the days before internets and websites, and now the “Digitally Remastered” version of Cinemondo he hopes to connect with folks and discuss all the details. Favorite Genre: Sci-fi

Cinemondo was originally a print magazine back in the dark ages before the internet. It was printed on real paper and distributed in the real word, and generated a devoted core of fans who were interested in unusual and less publicized films. Our approach wasn’t so much scholarly, but an expression of our genuine love of movies. We covered “post credit endings” back before they were standard, and we wrote articles that didn’t just review films, but the local movie theaters, too. We interviewed folks like Clive Barker and Whitley Streiber who sort of freaked us out a little with his stories about alien abductions. We tried our best to be the friend you wanted to sit around with and chat about your favorite movies. The friend who always has the good recommendations and points you in the right direction when you’re digging around for something to watch. The Cinemondo Podcast is a continuation of that idea... three movie fans talking about movies.

Jeff McCarty loves movies. He's one of us. He restores films for a living. He's also a filmmaker. He's also a musician and did I mention he loves movies? Anyway, Jeff is our first Cinemondo Podcast special guest which is a cool honor - time will prove me right. Jeff knows a lot about all facets of moviemaking and is also an historian. He has also just opened, with some business partners, the second film processing lab in Los Angeles. Although most everything is now shot on digital, shooting on film is still a thing. And something shot on film just has a different feel. It's an option that should remain an option. Jeff is helping keep "film"making alive. He's a cool first guest. We'll most certainly have him on again; if he can handle Darwin. (Darwin barks a lot at new people; then he calms down and loves them. But he does bark a lot. A lot.)

He's also the guy that told us to check out The Love Witch (or maybe it was Kathy, she's just as cool as Jeff). Either way, Anne Biller's The Love Witch is something very special. A nod to 60s and 70s technicolor movies, with an intense retro feel. But it also has some interesting things to say about male/female relationships. In that way, it is very modern. The movie is one-of-a-kind and needs to be seen by anyone as cool as Jeff or Kathy. Burk and Mark got to see it because they are "cool adjacent".

WM3.org co-founders, Burk Sauls and Kathy Bakken, have a new movie podcast called, Cinemondo Podcast. They joined forces with another fellow movie fanatic, Mark Aznavourian, to bring attention to obscure, weird and unusual films.

They are currently working on episode centered around the Paradise Lost documentaries and the WM3 case. They're very interested in what you all want to know about the making of the documentaries and the case. They will read selected questions and discuss them in the podcast.

Kathy hosts these really great viewing parties on select Sunday nights. For awhile, it was Breaking Bad. Then it was The Walking Dead. Then it was Game Of Thrones (lame Mark - me - has not watched any episodes - I know). The latest show that gets the Kathy treatment is Hulu's new streaming hit, Castle Rock. Burk, Kathy and myself, along with family and friends watched the first two episodes back-to-back. I can tell, even though I haven't seen an episode since, that this show will increase in speed, plot twists, and WTF moments as the episodes go on. It has that feeling of a slow juggernaut that, once it picks up speed, will be hard to stop watching.

The plot is in, and around the world of many other King plots. There are Easter Eggs aplenty, but please don't watch it for those - watch it for the cool multiple story lines and wonderful setting and acting. Heck, Sissy Spacek - Stephen King royalty, has a good role in it. It's quality through and through and one of those summer binge watches that you only wished Hulu would crank out all the episodes at once. But, like Then Handmaid's Tale - still the best show for me since Breaking Bad (remember I haven't seen GOT), they mete them out week by week. Oh well, Castle Rock, you had me at "Hello", or should I see "Hulu". sorry.

It was a box office smash in 2016. It is a big movie with big production values and cool effects. I am not one that gets scared of clowns - unless you count that creepy Post Rice Krinkles clown from the 1960s commercial - check it out - none scarier, so It did not scare me. But it is entertaining with good acting by the kids and neat set pieces. Burk didn't like the creepy old house because it looked to set-like - I think I agree - but he approved of a lot of it. Great to see a horror flick do so well with the public. Always happy to see Stephen King make more money, but he's very pennywise, so I'm sure he's fine. - Mark

Child's Play, God Told Me To, and Blood Punch are films that don't have a lot in common, except that we've decided to talk about them all in one podcast. That's kind of how we do things here at Cinemondo HQ. Child's Play was a big hit in the late 80s, a franchise starter that is still producing films to this day. I can't say I've watched past the second one, but somebody is watching them. God Told Me To is a weird Larry Cohen jawn that is very hard to explain (listen to me try on this podcast! - Ep. 5). Part NYC gritty crime drama, part UFO abduction, part Satanic cult saga- it's weird but surprisingly watchable: catch Andy Kaufmann playing it straight as a NYC cop! And Blood Punch is one of those smarter than it has to be, snarky, flicks with good looking young adults doing nasty things over and over and over again. Three completely different experiences, yet they share one thing in common. They were each our secret selections for our first Cinemondo Podcast Mystery Date episode.

I tried to bowl Kathy and Burk over with my oddball Larry Cohen pick. I think I partly succeeded. Burk came up with a movie that he thought was better than it originally was. We love revisiting movies that we think we have a bead on only to find out that we remember it differently than it actually was. Burk thought Child's Play wouldn't wear well, but it was made by Tom Holland - and he knows what he is doing; just check out Fright Night - a film we'll be talking about soon. They both hold up very well. And Blood Punch is just really fun. One of those surprises you find streaming that catches you off guard. Those are probably my very favorite types of viewing experiences. You don't expect anything, and yet a young filmmaker comes up with something fresh and smart. More please!

So eavesdrop in on our very first mystery date. We plan on doing more of them, unless you tell us otherwise. Oh yes, please tell us what you think about our little podcast. Good, bad, meh - just let us know via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. On Twitter, we're at #cinemondopod - the other two #cinemondopodcast. Also please subscribe to it on iTunes - listen, like, and write a review. Under His Eye (that's my non-sequitar Handmaid's Tale sign-off, which I'll never use again, so enjoy).

My podcastmate, Kathy, saw Last House on the Left when she was a wee one. That's how she got the horror film bug. I, the wimpy kid that was afraid of Herman Munster, didn't experience a Wes Craven film until the original Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984. That film had some great scenes, of course. Freddy's arms five feet long on each side scratching the metal fences making those awful screeching sounds. That one scene got me to go back and watch all of Mr. Craven's films before and watch all of the subsequent ones. Although that was my personal favorite, he was so much more than a "horror" guy. Sure, you had the mega-hit Scream and it's sequels, The Serpent and the Rainbow, The Hills Have Eyes, etc. - but you had cool genre flicks like Red Eye (worth a look for sure!), Swamp Thing (sweetly fun) and The People Under the Stairs (just weird).

I never met the man, but I followed him on Twitter, and he seemed like a great guy; and that's all I heard from people that worked with him. Knowledgable, approachable, cool.

Episode 004 of the Cinemondo Podcast deals with two older films - Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) and Frightmare (1974). I had seen neither when fellow podcast-mate Burk suggested these films. Kim Stanley is the standout star in Seance. It's a subtle performance. She's delusional, but she doesn't pllay it as a raving lunatic. She's cool, calculated but with 3 to 5 screws definitely only "finger tightened" (an Ikea instruction that I never follow and usually ends up costing me). Anyway, the film centers around her hubris, that ultimately causes her downfall. I've never seen her before, or seen her in anything else.

Same with Sheila Keith, the central figure in Frightmare. Her's is not a subtle performance. She goes for all the gusto, and she's a joy to watch. She is so over the top that you ultimately admire how much she relishes in playing a power drill wielding murderer. I know she's been in a lot of other Peter Walker British horror flicks, and I'll search them out. Incredibly fun to watch her.

Kim Stanley and Sheila Keith - two actresses long since gone from this earth. It's so much fun to discover these performances and actors. In today's world of what comes next, we at Cinemondo really hope that our listeners go back and discover these and other movies and performances. We'll keep bringing them up, along with new releases, of course. We're just doing that thing we do.

Thanks so much for reading and listening. Please subscribe on iTunes, listen, like (hopefully!!) and write a review if you're so inclined. Much appreciated!! - Mark out

Murder Party, Blue Ruin and Green Room. Three features directed by Jeremy Saulnier. Have you seen these films? If I may be so bold, you should. If you like gripping, whether it's slow-burn (Blue Ruin) or 85 straight minutes of intensity (Green Room), you should. Blue Ruin reminded me of Blood Simple. I shouldn't need to say more for you to go out and give it a try. So I won't. I'll focus on Green Room, which we talked about on the podcast.

After a ten to fifteen minute set up where we meet the punk band led by the late Anton Yelchin, we get into the heart of the matter. The band stumbles upon a murder in the green room at a rural white supremacist punk club, and the flick takes off from there. Patrick Stewart is super bad ass, and so are the members of the band. Most of the characters are also really smart. They are thinking ahead of the game - I really appreciate it when the characters are way ahead of me as opposed to doing super stupid shit, which a lot of horror movie victims do. Sadly, they deserve their fate. But in Green Room, we are very upset and shocked when people die. It's violent, graphic and surprising. Just like any good director should do. But Saulnier is one of the best out there. And I wait excitedly for his latest film, Hold the Dark. So should you. Peace and Love folks - Mark.

Brian DePalma's Carrie has one scare that holds up to this day: Sissy Spacek's blood-covered face when she wrecks havoc at the Senior Prom. It's chilling. The rest of it is less a scarefest than a really well-done psychological character piece. Carrie's relationship with her mother, the amazing Piper Laurie; the sweet relationship between Carrie and William Katt's character, Tommy, and her relationship with the gym teacher, Miss Collinas (Betty Buckley) are what brings the film home. Plus, DePalma's direction, which has the elan and flair you would expect from one of his film's from this era. It's always a joy to watch, with surprising moments of humor and insight into high school life - although most of these high schoolers are played by actors that were probably closer to 30 years of age than 17.

MFA, directed by Natalia Leite and written by Leah McKendrick, is sort of an updated version of Carrie. Noelle, played beautifully by Francesca Eastwood, brings the right amount of edge and sensitivity to her character. You feel for her as her artwork is torn apart by her classmates and her professor. But when she gets date raped, instead of withdrawing and wanting to push it away, she gets on the offensive and seeks revenge. Not just for her rapist, but for others on campus. She becomes a vigilante. I feel the movie sort of goes off the rails in the last twenty minutes, but that can be forgiven because the story is so well-told and acted, that I can forgive some of the over-the-topness of the climax.

This is one of those movies out there streaming that shouldn't go overlooked. Both Leite and McKendrick did a great job, and I look forward to their next projects.

Thanks again for reading. Hope you've gotten a chance to listen to our podcasts. If not, please do and subscribe, like and write a review. Tell us what you like, what you would want us to review in the future. We'll watch almost anything!!! - Mark

Isolation horror and contained thrillers, as they're called, are my personal favorite type of horror film. And that's good for me, because there are literally thousands of those out there available to stream. They are probably the most popular type of horror film. We all know the set up: A group of people of various stripes stuck in an environment that is either familiar or completely foreign. Either way works for me. The Thing (1982) and The Ruins (2008) set folks up in an unfamiliar setting. Stinky, smelly, ornery male scientists stuck in their Antarctic station. Good-looking twenty-somethings venturing into the hot Mexico sun and finding more than they can handle at an archaeological dig. Completely different setting; same type of horror.

The Thing was raked over the coals when it came out. Some critics even put in on their worst movies of the year. With E.T. doing box office boffo (always wanted to crowbar that in somewhere), no one had much patience for a nasty outer space dude that would get all goopy. I saw it during it's initial theatrical run, and I was blown away by it. And I was more blown away by all the negativity it received. I'm glad the rest of the world has come around to my opinion. ;)

The Ruins was a film that went somewhat under the radar, but should be seen. There are some cool things in there that I haven't seen before in other horror flicks. Can't say that about too many movies. Worth checking out!!

Thanks for reading and also thanks for listening to the CInemondo Podcast. Subscribe, listen, like and write a review, if you don't mind. We'd really appreciate it! Now back to my VHS tapes of Let's Make A Deal. - Mark